|
Post by okla on Nov 16, 2011 22:24:36 GMT 8
Hey Chad....I gotta agree with Fots about the chart. It has plenty of detail, but it doesn't present a "clutter" effect which used to lead to, for me at least, a sensation of becoming "cross eyed". Of course, charts/maps, way back in my time, were a bit cruder, than this one. Cheers. Postscript...The photo we discussed should be forthcoming, posthaste via EMail.
|
|
|
Post by chadhill on Nov 18, 2011 0:27:37 GMT 8
Fots, sorry but I don't know what the circles are. There is no legend on the chart. Another view of the Rivera Point area, looking south in 1949: The Oryoku Maru: When it set sail from Manila Bay on December 13, 1944 the Oryoku Maru had 1619 POWs tightly crowded into its three lower holds. The conditions in the holds were deplorable; temperatures approached 120 degrees F, with filth and human waste everywhere. There was no ventilation and practically no lighting. There was very little food and, worst of all, almost no water. Among the POWs were CDR Frank Bridget, former CO of the Naval Battalion at Mariveles, and LTCOL Curtiss Beecher, who had commanded the 1st Battalion, 4th Marines on Corregidor (both men displayed great leadership during the horrible, overwhelming nightmare that was to follow). A large number of Japanese were on board, 1500 soldiers, 550 civilians, and 1100 crew and other sea personnel. During the night some of the thirst-crazed, starved, disease-ridden POWs lost their senses and began drinking their own urine. The thirst desperation wildly escalated until these men finally panicked, lost control of themselves and began killing their fellow men, in order to drink their blood. More died from heat exhaustion. When morning broke it was found that 50 had perished. As it sailed up the coast of Bataan on the morning of the 14th, Oryoku Maru was attacked by aircraft from the USS Hornet (CV-12). The pilots, of course, had no idea that US POWs were on board. The Oryoku attempted to escape by turning into Subic Bay. It became hung up about 300 yards offshore, south of Rivera Point, at about 4 p.m. The Japanese began evacuating the damaged ship late on the evening of the 14th. During the raids, several hundred of them had been killed. The POWs were not allowed to evacuate until the 15th. About 200 had been killed in the holds from the bombings. Several more were shot on deck looking for food and water while others, swimming ashore, were machine-gunned as they approached the beach. When muster was finally taken, 1333 POWs had survived; a total of 286 had perished. The Oryoku Maru, south of Rivera Point, under attack by aircraft from the USS Hornet: The 1300-plus POWs were then crowded and locked into a fenced tennis court, exposed and deprived of shade for six days. The location of the tennis court is shown by the red arrow: Over the next six days, a number of men died from wounds and exhaustion. The tennis court was so crowded that a rotation plan was devised, allowing some men to sit or lay down, while others stood. Trucks moved the POWs to San Fernando on the 20th and 21st. There, 15 men too weak to continue were beheaded. * * * * * The caption on this 1910 photo says: 595 U.S. Naval Station Olongapo, P.I. Drydock from South gate. June-20-'10. 10:05 A.M. Tide = 4.2 The Dewey dry dock arrived in Subic Bay July 10, 1906. It had taken over 6 months to tow it from the US.
|
|
|
Post by fireball on Nov 18, 2011 7:00:07 GMT 8
I had assumed, without really thinking about it, that the circles on the chart were all specified anchoring points ??
|
|
|
Post by rlbj25 on Nov 18, 2011 10:24:41 GMT 8
Great thread. When reading about it, I've formed visions in my mind of what that horrifying scene of the Oryoko Maru under attack looked like, and the pictures really bring it home. If, as chadhill says, it ran aground, then would the wreck have been a navigation hazard and been largely scrapped at some point? Just curious.
|
|
|
Post by Karl Welteke on Nov 18, 2011 13:15:25 GMT 8
My last duty station and twilight tour was in Subic Bay Dec. 1988 to March 1991. It was in the Ship Repair Facility (SRF) as a Navy Deep Sea Diver. In my desk I found a salvage report of 1946 that listed all the ships sunk or aground from a typhoon in that year. The number of vessels and craft was astounding great. Maybe many of the vessels and crafts were not manned in view that the war was over and it was too expensive to return them to the US. It also outlined what was salvaged and what was not. I didn’t take the file and could kick my butt. Specially in view that the Base was closed 20 month later and I could imagine that much of that paperwork got thrown away. I remember the report very clearly, it had many pictures and charts and what struck me that there is a “Cubi Point”. in Subic Bay, where the Officer Beach was later and where the new container port is now. Often I had heard the rumor that Cubi Point Naval Air Station was named after a Construction Unit Battalion or something to that effect. Well that settled that argument for me, the Naval Air Station was named after the point. In this forum we have a thread about the Oryoku Maru Gun that was salvaged by Navy divers. It is my image album listed in that thread. corregidor.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=forum&action=display&thread=390These are the descriptions with this picture: The Oryoku gun is lifted out of the drink in 1952. In back one can see work on Cubi Point Naval Air Station has started. This image came from Paul Daudet of Grants Pass, Oregon who was a crew member of the USS Mender at the time of their salvage work1952, to cut away part of the Oryoku Maru superstructure to make the waters navigational. He had sent this image to Sgt Holub, the web master of www.subicbaypi.com/ who let me use it.
|
|
|
Post by fots2 on Nov 18, 2011 17:05:55 GMT 8
Hi chadhill,
Great photos and interesting information in your posts. This subject makes me miss my scuba diving days when I used to explore around similar wrecks in Asia. In the Philippines, I did get to see the Japanese WWII wrecks off of Coron Bay in Palawan but unfortunately I never made it to Subic.
|
|
|
Post by fots2 on Nov 18, 2011 17:06:41 GMT 8
Hi Karl,
Thanks Karl, now I know for sure that the large number of ship wrecks in 1946 was due to a typhoon. Is that Oryoku Maru deck gun on display somewhere now?
|
|
|
Post by chadhill on Nov 19, 2011 12:05:22 GMT 8
Thanks, Kark, for the 1952 photo of the Oryoku Maru gun. I visited the links you posted. I remember seeing the gun in the 1980s in front of the American Legion post, too, as in your photos.
Fots, if I remember correctly the American Legion post was on Magsaysay Avenue (?). I have a book saying the gun was dedicated to the POWs at an American Legion ceremony on November 11, 1952. I have pictures of the gun, and exploring Grande Island, from the 1980s. But I've been looking for days and can't find them...
Fireball, I think your hunch about the circles on the chart being anchor points is a very good guess.
Rlbj25, as I recall from Subic Bay lore, the Oryoku Maru only partially sank. After the war, US divers tried to recover remains from the lower holds but the wreckage was in terrible shape and it became very dangerous to do so, thus the effort ended. When it was decided that Subic would become a post-war naval base, a demolition crew blew Oryoku Maru up because it was an obstruction. At least that's the story I remember-
Okla and Fots and all, looking at the second USN aerial photo of the Oryoku Maru (with the red arrow pointing to the tennis court) I notice what appears to be a lot of activity in the water to the left of the ship. Could this be hundreds of evacuees swimming to shore? If so, they would probably be US POWs since the Japanese had largely abandonded ship over the night of December 14-15 (survivor Manny Lawton in his book "Some Survived", p. 163-166).
|
|
|
Post by fots2 on Nov 19, 2011 19:17:28 GMT 8
Hi chadhill,
The ship is burning in that photo but I do not see any evidence of an explosion moments earlier that would throw debris into the water (and only to the left side of the ship). Your theory that this is POWs swimming ashore is very possible. This photo is a real snapshot of history. Good eyes there buddy.
Fireball, your suggestion makes sense to me.
Hey okla, if any photo is worth 'more' than a thousand words then this may be it. Imagine what is going on inside the ship at this moment to those that did not survive.
|
|
|
Post by okla on Nov 19, 2011 22:26:50 GMT 8
Hey Fots and Chad....Somewhere in the distant past, when I was laboring as a GI Bill Undergrad, I was perusing this photo and the accompanying text did, indeed, identify those "objects" as POW survivors (and possibly some debris) abandoning ship and attempting to reach shore. Ironically, there was a guy in this particular History Class whose Father had perished on one of the "Hell Ships" that was sunk by either American Submarines or Aircraft. He remarked on more than one occasion if one of those "dots" might have been his Father, who didn't make it to the tennis court. I have often wondered if this particular fellow ever followed up on finding out on just which POW ship his Dad left the PI. I have always thought it a tragedy for so many of our military to have survived the Death March and Prison pens, only to perish at the hands of their fellow countrymen. Wm. T. Sherman said, "War is Hell". So true.
|
|